A translator is to be like his author; it is not his…

I think that if you are sticking to the text, essentially, you're not trying to write your own version of it. I mean, of…

— Ann Goldstein

What the translator - myself in particular - does is not comparable to what the Homeric performer was doing.

— Robert Fitzgerald

As the writer, you can choose the word that seems best in terms of meaning, nuance, sound, etc. As the translator you are unlikely…

— Ann Goldstein

The translator's task is to create, in his or her own language, the same tensions appearing in the original. That's hard!

— Manuel Puig

When a translator translates my book, it is no longer just my book. It is the translator's book, too. So the book in another…

— Sam Lipsyte

The translator ... Peculiar outcast, ghost in the world of literature, recreating in another form something already created, creating and not creating, writing words…

— Lydia Davis

As a true translator you will take care not to translate word for word.

— Horace

A satisfactory translation is not always possible, but a good translator is never satisfied with it. It can usually be improved. (Newmark)

— Peter Newmark

I have always maintained that translation is essentially the closest reading one can possibly give a text. The translator cannot ignore "lesser" words, but…

— Gregory Rabassa

Even a poor translator couldn't kill a style that moves with such narrative clarity.

— William Zinsser

the translator, a lonely sort of acrobat, becomes confused in a labyrinth of paradox, or climbs a pyramid of dependent clauses and has to…

— Lydia Davis

Please, never despise the translator. He's the mailman of human civilization.

— Alexander Pushkin

What is the task of the translator? I think the task depends on the book and on the translator.

— Idra Novey

A translator is essentially a reader and we all read differently, except that a translator's reading remains in unchanging print

— Gregory Rabassa

Without translation, I would be limited to the borders of my own country. The translator is my most important ally. He introduces me to…

— Italo Calvino